Mower enjoys camaraderie on tour

While they represent different musical genres, acts on (hed) p.e.'s "N.W.O. Tour 2009" share some things in common.

For instance, all four are label mates on Suburban Noize Records. In addition to punk, hip-hop and hardcore hybrid (hed) p.e., the tour includes rapper The Dirtball, punk-rock/hip-hop act DGAF, and Mower, which plays hardcore music with elements of modern rock, metal and punk rock.

For
Brian Sheerin
, co-vocalist and founding member of Mower, playing shows with (hed) p.e. dates back to the late '90s, when the latter was touring for their very first, self-titled CD on Jive Records.

Sheerin said he's enjoying the camaraderie with (hed) p.e. and their label mates on the road so far. The tour stops in Hartford at the
Webster Theater
on April 7.

"I mean, our biggest goal is to really throw down a good, high-energy show," Sheerin said in a March 29 interview from Des Moines, Iowa. "And we win a lot of people over that aren't fans of the music just because of that. It's hard to just stand there and watch people going off, no matter what genre it is. I mean, if you walk into a jazz club and jazz isn't your thing, but you run into some really talented jazz guys with a lot of soul, you know, they suck you into it.

"So maybe you're not going there expecting to see something or maybe you're all about the hip-hop artists -- you're dying to hear
Lil Wayne
-type stuff or Jay-Z-type stuff," he added. "And then somebody flips you on your lid and you get introduced to somebody else that you really like. It's like a festival show, where they just have tons and tons of different variety. And you end up walking away from it going, 'Man, that was really cool.' "

Like their tour mates, Mower touches on political topics at times and has a punk-rock ethic. In concert, you won't hear the members of Mower talking a lot between songs; instead, you'll witness a band literally tearing through its set at breakneck speed.

Mower, which also includes longtime co-vocalist
Dominic Moscatello
and bassist
Chris McCredie
-- in addition to newer members
Greg Russell
on guitar and
Jessie Tate
on drums -- is a physical band, both on and off stage. For his part, Sheerin surfs as much as he can and started training in Muay Thai a few years ago.

"It gets to be a grind after a few weeks," Sheerin said of Mower's live show. "It's like any kind of athletic thing; if you're doing it every day, it starts to wear your body down. I mean, everybody's flying around and everybody's playing full throttle; it's gonna wear people out. But you get used to it. Your body gets used to it. It gets conditioned. After a few weeks on the road, you hardly notice it anymore. And then you just kind of battle through it.

"Usually we stay in hotels and stuff like that and we make use of whatever gyms we can get our hands on," he added. "We bring a lot of stuff with us, just to stay active. You'll find us playing stickball or Wiffle ball in the parking lot and just goofing around. We'll throw on some gloves and punching pads and bring some weights along with us. We're a pretty active group."

Born Sept. 21, 1972 in New York City, Sheerin grew up in New York and New Jersey. His father worked for a telephone company, while his mother worked in research.

After growing up on classic rock music, he got into punk rock by bands that included the Dead Boys and the
Sex Pistols
.

"My favorite bands are
Jane's Addiction
and stuff that's real eclectic and stuff that has good lyrics," he said. "Those are the two things that I'm into more than anything else. If it's got some real energy and it doesn't stick to one single focus and the lyrics are good, you get me."

Sheerin moved to San Diego and played in a couple of bands before forming Mower in late 1994. Moscatello and McCredie joined in '96. By 1999, the guys had began to record their first official demo material.

Before inking a record deal, the band already had gained recognition as a local opening act for such big-name groups as GWAR,
System Of A Down
and (hed) p.e. They also garnered a spot on the Vans Warped Tour.

"We were probably some of the best promoters in town, so bands would want us on the shows because it would mean advertising widespread throughout the city," Sheerin said. "So we'd be out hoofing it all over town, putting posters up. And bands like that because it's difficult to get promotion in the city without spending a lot of money. If you can drop a couple hundred (dollars) on fliers and some band goes nuts -- or if you don't even spend a lot of money and the band just throws money into fliers and runs around town -- it's helpful. It means more people in a club.

"And then, the bigger Mower got, the more people we added to a show," he added. "So instead of just promoting the show and being a no-name on the show, it just became we would be bringing people on top of the fact that we promote whoever the headliner was."

All this got the attention of record labels, including Sub Noize, which had a reputation in San Diego for booking and selling out concerts.

The label liked Mower's demos, signed the band and released its self-titled debut in 2003. While promoting the "Mower" LP and its followup, 2006's "Not For You," the band toured with label mates
Kottonmouth Kings
, Phunk Junkeez, Mix Mob and (hed) p.e.

In 2004, Mower opened a show for Metallica and Godsmack. They've also performed alongside Disturbed and Slipknot on the Rockstar Mayhem Festival. And they've had the chance to tour Japan, where they got "a taste of the real rock 'n' roll treatment," having all their equipment, food and alcohol needs taken care of -- and seeing the country's many exotic attractions.

The song "Road Rage" from "Not For You" was among the top-requested songs on Sirius Satellite Radio's "Hard Attack" program for four months. And its video appeared on
MTV
's "Headbangers Ball."

"Surprisingly, I think we really tapped into a vein and hit a nerve on that one because everyone's been stuck in traffic," Sheerin said. "That's a lowest common denominator-type song. Like I say, it's not a real Pulitzer Prize-winning piece there, but everyone gets it. Everyone's been that angry. I don't care if it's your mother or your grandmother or your father going to work in the morning. Anyone who's been cut off and flipped off gets that. So I think that's why people took to that one.

"Then we had a lot of fun with the video," he added. "I don't think we could have made a goofier, funnier type video than running around in L.A. in the convertible, just yelling at people. It was a good time anyway."

You could say the same for Mower's current tour.

"We've been real fortunate," Sheerin said. "We've had a really good reaction when we play and we're getting a lot of CDs out there and a lot of people running around in Mower shirts that have heard us and people that haven't heard us (before). So it's a really good thing for us."

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Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with the show starting at 7:30 p.m. The venue is at 31 Webster St. Tickets are $16. Call Tickets.com at (800) 477-6849.